524 



NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



II? BOOPIS SERIES. 



A separate family has been made of this series to which has ulti- 

 mately been given the name of Calycerece because it also contains the. 

 genus Calycera. Boopis > (fig. 426-430) has flowers similar to each 

 other and very analogous to those of the Dips'acece. It has the concave 

 receptacle lodging in its cavity the ovary with a single cell, near the 



Soopis auatralis. 



Fig. 428. Fruit. 



Fig. 426. Flower. 



Fig. 429. 

 Seed. 



Fig. 430. Long, 

 sect, of seed. 



Fig. 427. Long, 

 sect, of flower. 



summit of which is inserted a descending and anatropous ovule. It 

 has also the superior (epigynous) perianth, composed of a short calyx 

 with four, five or six divisions, equal or unequal and a regular gamo- 

 petalous corolla the limb of which is divided above into four, five or 

 six equal lobes, valvate ' in the bud. The stamens, inserted near the 

 base of the limb, are alternate with these divisions, and are formed 

 each of a filament, free or united with the others at the base, and a 

 bilocularjntrorse anther dehiscing by two longitudinal clefts. Under 

 the andrcecium, the corolla tube bears four, five or six alternipetalous, 

 elliptic or elongate, little prominent glands. The ovule is inserted 



1 J. Ann. Mus. ii. 350, t. 58, 2 (1803).— Pom. 

 J)ict. Suppl. i. (1810) 679.— Cass. Joarn. Phys. 

 (1818) 114; Opwsc. JPhyt. ii. 355.— L.-C. EiCH. 

 Mem. Mus. vi. 78, t. 11, 12.— DC. Frodr. v. 2. 

 • — Endl. Oe». n. 3034. — Miers, Arm. and Mag. 

 Nat. Hist. (1860) ; Contrib. ii. 21, t. 46, 47.— 



H.Bn. Payer Fam. Nat. 245.— B.H. Gen. ii. 161, 

 n. 1. 



^ The nervation of these lobes is peculiax and 

 deviates from what is ohserved in most Compo- 

 sitee ; generally a median nerve is distinguished 

 and two other nervures near the margins. 



